Colleagues: Thanks to Mark Davies for providing real world perspectives on the FOSS topic.
The "community" aspect of Open Source software is often a focus of discussion. Yes, a few publicized FOSS projects have benefited from the contributions of numerous developers distributed across multiple continents. The reality is that most FOSS projects will start small and remain relatively small. The justification for its use is generally its low cost. In addition, as technology practitioners are aware, technology projects are challenging. Often the challenges are not related to the technology used (either open or proprietary), but rather other issues including an inadequate definition of needs and objectives, and insufficient resources (both funding and skilled staff). This is the case in both developed and developing regions. Be pragmatic about what is achievable within your constraints. Good project management is important, the rhetoric is just noise. My background: 24 years in the technology sector (application development, strategy planning and investment). Along the way, I have researched many case studies regarding Open Source use, and developed the OSS report released by infoDev at the WSIS event in 2003. Paul Dravis On Friday, October 14, 2005, Mark Davies wrote: > As an African business, and as an African software development business, > I still don't get it. There's so much enthusiasm for FOSS, there's so > much conference mind-share spent on this topic, and yet I don't see an > illuminating discussion about the opportunities for risk/reward for > people like us. Much of the discussion is how government can localize > software, and how it can reduce costs... and the merits of sharing and > reinventing and reissuing open source code. Hours will be spent on the > IP properties of such endeavors. Even the debate about African > developers making money from 'services' supporting such FOSS is rarely > discussed in detail at these events. > > But what truly is the opportunity for the business community? ..snip... ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
